….. so I’m walking thru Penn Square heading to get coffee and breakfast and coffee….coffee…get that. I have the yet un-named Nex in my hand with the 35mm Nokton on. I figured just to relax, sip a few cups of coffee…COFFEE and this guy is inside this building talking on his fancy dancy cellphone and he’s looking at me like I’m nuts. So I raised the camera and focused with the red peaking as I did this and framed and CLICK! Not bad considering I was just trying to get a cup of friggin coffee.
The thing about using a 50mm for me is to change the way I see the world and my work. What I find most interesting is the Depth Of Field. Ok, so outside of the Metro Philly Area, there’s a thing called Bokeh. Yeah…yeah, I heard of it but I ain’t letting that SOB Mr Bokek get into my stuff. He’s not always in focus but he shows up sometimes. So what I like to do is Anti-Bokeh or Reverse Bokeh.
Of course none of this will mean a hill of beans to anyone else but my collectors and myself. The interesting thing for me is something like this. Just making the change to a 50mm FOV should bee as easy as changing lenses. Well, maybe for most it is but for me it’s not. I want to know about the DOF that is taken away from this change and how I have to compensate for that loss on my lens. My lens has a very accurate DOF scale…(Tested on a number of Leicas)…I want to be able to just switch f/stops and KNOW what I have for my DOF without looking at anything but the subject and the lens.
The field of view also leads me to thinking more. Oh yeah, my brain works on overtime…….but this funny enough seems to be the easy part for me. I SEE 50mm already. What that means is that it’s quickly becoming a Natural Field of View. So I guess the technical parts will be worked out in the next few weeks or so. I mean, I think I’m off to a good start being a rank amateur on this lens.
Now a word about photographic engineers. Why do I have to have another nice lens that sees 35mm, has the proper markings for 35mm and works just great as a 35mm field of view and DOF for a 35mm lens and yet I put it on the NEX 6 and youse idiot engineers make the lens see like 52.5 mm and the DOF is off and the scale is off and I get a headache every time I have to think about what I’m doing because you are the engineer and should be playing with you locomotives and not our cameras……
Good stuff Don!, I see you’re getting along just fine with the Nex. Cheers!
Thanks Jorge. The Nex 6 even with my Leica or Legacy glass is more user friendly than the ….. uh, uh…you know.
Thanks Jorge. Yes, the un-named Nex 6 and I are doing fine……..
How funny can be the life … I’ve been always a 50mm type of shutter, 35mm the most. And then I started to follow your posts on Flickr cause I was interested in the GRD IV, then I started to get engaged into your photos (I mean, they are good, so I look and look at them). By that time I was already doing my transition in between 50mm and 35mm. I got a GRD IV and I sold it cause I couldn’t get used to the 28mm … time after I bought the Fuji X10 and I thought I was going to oscilate more in between 50mm FOV and 35mm FOV … surprisingly I find myself more and more oscillating in between 35 and 28mm FOV and now I miss the Ricoh …
I’m leaving the comfort of my 50mm (or equiv. FOV) to go 28mm and you are leaving the confort of your 28mm to go 50mm …
Photographers we are a curious breed, in Spain we’ll say that we are a “culo inquieto” (restless ass) as someone who can stay attached to something for long time and need to move constantly.
I’ll keep looking for your new work, so far I like what I see.
Cheers.
Yup! 🙂 I’m also engaged in Don’s images and writings, but I think that if you follow him too seriously about cameras, you should also read our friend Olivier’s texts about GAS. Don’s undervaluating the effect he has in influencing people about gear… 😀 In these last months, it’s been GRDs of course, E-P3, X20, GR and now Nex-6.
Different matter is the vision: while we can perhaps afford to buy the same cameras, his vision gets on being on a different level…
“culo inquieto” is a funny wording. And it is perfectly correct in italian too. 🙂
Do you have a flickr account too? [edit] Never mind, found.
Thanks Alessandro. Read my new post and you’ll see what’s going on….you know already but read it anyway……
I’m off to do it right now…..
Oh don’t get me wrong, I wanted to try a GRD before I knew about Don, actually I discovered him looking for photos taken with the GRD IV. Then I got engaged on his photography but the one who really through me into the gritty BW and into the “Ricoh Cult” was Mr. Daido Moriyama but not because of the camera but because his amazing photography.
Anyway, my GAS passed away time ago when I decided to became a photographer professionally and cause it, broke, lol. My equipment changes lately came because other reasons rather than GAS and they happen always in my “day off” equipment.
Agree 100% with you that what matters is the vision you have and equipment (at least for me) is secondary … even though sometimes we like to collect toys, but nothing as good as not having money to finish with that, lol.
My flickr account is just a bunch of crap that once in a while I delete and start from the scratch … I’m never happy with my work … but by now still standing … till I punch it in the gut …
Whoa there big boy…..let’s not get things twisted. I ain’t leavin; anything at all…well except my mind sometimes. I’m just adding what I already see and doing it a little tighter.
Read the next post…..
Alright, alright … I didn’t choose the right word … but you know what I meant … Ge!, how picky are you guys in the East Coast, LOL. I was writing my comment on the cafe while the guy in front of me was recording messages out loud in his phone and he got me a little distracted, next time I will post it in Spanish so I’ll use the exact words I want and I’ll let you translate it later on, lol.
Moving onto the the next post 😉